Fact Checks

“Atheists are underrepresented [in federal prison].” Mona Chalabi, in a March 12, 2015 article for FiveThirtyEight Overview FiveThirtyEight uses data inadequate for the task of estimating the percentage of atheists in federal prison. FiveThirtyEight’s argument won’t even support a probabilistic case that atheists are underrepresented in the federal prison population. The Facts FiveThirtyEight’s Mona Chalabi received a request from…Read more

“Netanyahu Takes Kerry Out of Context” —FactCheck.org, from a March 3, 2015 fact check of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Overview FactCheck.org’s assertion that Prime Minister Netanyahu took Secretary of State Kerry out of context appears to lack any basis in fact. The Facts On March 3, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a well-publicized address to both…Read more

“Myth: Immigration reform will allow illegal immigrants to take away jobs from hard-working Americans.” —The Democratic National Committee, from its “Your Republican Uncle” website, November 2013 Overview Not every illegal immigrant would take away the job of a hard-working American citizen, but it’s likely some would. The Facts Our examination of the Democratic National Committee’s “Your Republican Uncle” website…Read more

“Contrary to Cheney’s assertion, waterboarding was an important charge in a number of the lesser-profile cases.” —Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post Fact Checker, from a Dec. 16, 2014 fact check of former Vice President Dick Cheney Overview In a fact check of the former vice president, the Washington Post Fact Checker muddies the waterboarding. The Facts Former Vice President Dick…Read more

“[Rudy] Giuliani said, “the conviction rate is almost exactly the same” for whites and blacks who commit murder. … Without statistical data to back up his claim, we rate it False.” —PunditFact, from a Nov. 26, 2014 fact check of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani Overview: Facts and consistency escape PunditFact’s grasp as it overlooks an extensive…Read more

“In a classic study on race, psychologists staged an experiment with two photographs that produced a surprising result.” —CNN’s John Blake, in a Nov. 27, 2014 story titled “The new threat: ‘Racism without racists’.” Overview: CNN and the expert it sourced, Howard Ross, both provide badly distorted accounts of a research project. The Facts “The new threat: ‘Racism without…Read more

“If you watch any great coach, what they try to do is ‘work the refs.’” —Richard N. Bond, reported in the Washington Post, Aug. 20, 1992 Overview Do Republicans only complain about media bias as a strategy to “work the refs”? Some use an accurate quotation out of context to suggest a former chairman of the National Republican Committee…Read more

“Obama said the cost of “health care is now the single-biggest factor driving down” the federal budget deficit. … We rate Obama’s claim Mostly True.” —PolitiFact, from an Oct. 8, 2014 fact check of President Obama Overview The mainstream fact checker PolitiFact exemplifies inconsistency with its fact check of President Obama. The Facts On Oct. 8, 2014, PolitiFact published a…Read more

“Survey: Republicans Like Obamacare a Lot More if You Call It by a Different Name” –Headline of a Jonathan Cohn article in The New Republic, Sept. 15, 2014 Overview The survey doesn’t say what Jonathan Cohn and The New Republic say it does. The Facts On Sept. 15, 2014 the left-leaning magazine The New Republic published a story by…Read more